Hillary Clinton Hearts Iowa – No, Really

A leaked memo from Hillary Clinton’s deputy campaign manager Mike Henry urging the candidate to skip the Iowa caucuses is causing quite a stir today. “I believe we need a new approach to winning the Democratic nomination,” Henry wrote. “This approach involves shifting the focus away from Iowa and running a campaign that is more focused on other early primary states and winning this new national primary.”

Clinton has been trailing both John Edwards and Barack Obama there. Campaign spokesman Phil Singer insists the idea is not one the campaign intends to pursue. “We are unequivocally committed to competing in Iowa,” he says, and notes that the candidate plans to spend the next three weekends there, has doubled the size of her Iowa field staff (though he won’t disclose the exact number) and has opened 10 offices in the state.

No word on why Henry felt the need to write the memo–or how it got into the hands of someone who felt the inclination to leak it.